Deep-sea Mining Threatens “Twilight Zone” Ecosystem
;When the waste released by mining activity enters the ocean, it creates water as murky as the mud-filled Mississippi River. The pervasive particles dilute the nutritious, natural food particles usually consumed by tiny, drifting zooplankton,” said Michael Dowd, lead author of the study and oceanography graduate student in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).“Micronekton, small shrimp, fish and other animals that swim, feed on zooplankton. Some migrate between the depths and near surface waters and they are consumed by fish, seabirds and marine mammals
CCAMLR Talks End Without Consensus on Krill Fishing
After two weeks of negotiations in Hobart, the 44th annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has closed with little progress toward long-delayed goals to protect the Southern Ocean.Yet a growing group of members are standing strong for the protection of Antarctica, refusing to bow to pressure to expand industrial fishing in one of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems.“This year, conservation-minded countries showed that the future of Antarctica cannot be dictated by those who put fishing before protection,” said Claire
![Aerial view of the Rock Islands and coral seascape at the Republic of Palau. [Photo credit: The Nature Conservancy]](https://images.marinetechnologynews.com/images/maritime/w200h200padcanvas/aerial-view-rock-165050.jpg)
Bezos Funds AI Nature Projects
The Bezos Earth Fund has announced $30 million in new investments aimed at scaling AI to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change, and food insecurity.Each of 15 teams will receive up to $2 million as part of Phase II of the AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge.“AI can be a powerful ally to help make the world a better place,” said Lauren Sánchez Bezos, Vice Chair of the Bezos Earth Fund. “These innovators, using AI, are showing us new possibilities by reimagining how we grow food, protect wildlife, and power our planet to make a true impact.”The winning projects
Marine Heatwaves Impact Food Webs
New research shows that marine heatwaves can reshape ocean food webs, which in turn can slow the transport of carbon to the deep sea and hamper the ocean’s ability to buffer against climate change.The study, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications today, was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from MBARI, the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, the Hakai Institute, Xiamen University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Southern Denmark, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.To explore the impacts of
Survey of Coral Sea Marine Park Begins
Scientists on board CSIRO research vessel Investigator are preparing to conduct a dedicated deep-sea survey of marine life in the Coral Sea Marine Park, off the coast of Queensland.This new research voyage will use RV Investigator’s extensive suite of scientific equipment including deep towed camera, eDNA sampler, trawls and sleds to explore biodiversity and better understand ecological changes.The research will be led by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, with support from Parks Australia, Bush Blitz and The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, and in collaboration with a
Novel Hydrothermal System Links Two Seabed Phenomena
An international research team led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has discovered a globally unique system on the seabed off the coast of Papua New Guinea.During their expedition aboard the research vessel Sonne, they came across the “Karambusel” field, where two processes occur simultaneously: the release of hot hydrothermal fluids and unusually high amounts of methane and other hydrocarbons.This combination makes the system unique worldwide.It lies at a depth of around 1,300 meters on a flank of Conical Seamount in the western Pacific, off the island of Lihir in
Europe Moves On as US Lets Science Slide
European governments are taking steps to break their dependence on critical scientific data the United States historically made freely available to the world, and are ramping up their own data collection systems to monitor climate change and weather extremes, according to Reuters interviews.The effort - which has not been previously reported - marks the most concrete response from the European Union and other European governments so far to the U.S. government's retreat from scientific research under President Donald Trump's administration.Since his return to the White House, Trump has initiated
An Oceanographic Music Mix
Music has an important role to play in climate crisis discourse, offering a sonic pathway to bridge the gap between data, understanding, reflection and action, say researchers from Australia’s Monash University.Their Dark Oceanography initiative integrates climate science with experimental music. Following the pathways of eddies from the Eastern Australian Current through the Southern Ocean and across the globe, they used Lagrangian tracking data at an eddy-resolving resolution (0.10ᵒ) and translated it into music.The music was collaboratively developed by a team from The Sound Collectors Lab
High-Resolution Mapping Reveals Carbon Sink Details
A new satellite-based product can now map the ocean carbon sink at unprecedented resolution.Although the oceanic sink for the human-induced carbon dioxide reduces global warming, there are significant biogeochemical consequences. This uptake leads to a reduction in seawater pH and alters the carbonate chemistry of the ocean. These changes in ocean chemistry, often collectively referred to as ocean acidification, impact marine organisms and alter marine ecosystems.Although scientists have made significant progress in understanding how the global ocean carbon sink changes over seasons and decades
August 2025
